Terminal connector for electrical conductor



B. E. DIXON 3,501,739

TERMINAL CONNECTOR FOR ELECTRICAL CONDUCTOR March 17, 1970 Filed Oct.51, 1967 FIG.

BERNARD E. DIXON BUCK/ OHM BLORE, KLAROU/ST 8 SPAR/(MAN ATTORNEYS UnitedStates Patent 3,501,739 TERMINAL CONNECTOR FOR ELECTRICAL CONDUCTORBernard E. Dixon, P.O. Box 5872, Milwaukie, Oreg. 97222 Filed Oct. 31,1967, Ser. No. 679,332 Int. Cl. H01r 11/08; F16b 39/22; F16c 11/00 US.Cl. 339-276 1 Claim ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A terminal connector foran electrical conductor comprising a pair of eye members joined by abendable strip to facilitate bending one eye member over onto the otherwith the hook or circle end of an electrical conductor therebetween.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of invention The invention relates toa terminal conductor for electrical conductors and particularly to aconductor for isolating the binding screw which secures the terminalconductor in place from the conductor to prevent electrolysis.

Description of the prior art Prior art terminal connectors have eitherrequired the use of dies or complex tools for bending or forming theconnector in clamping relationship to an electrical conductor, or havecomprised several or more separate parts which can become separated orhave not been effective to isolate the binding screw from the conductor.Prior art located during a search is as follows: 451,364, Brewer;1,204,935, Busby; 2,442,767, Gookin; 2,643,366, Berg; 2,648,054, Berg;and 2,748,368, Gookin.

SUMMARY The connector of the present invention overcomes the abovedisadvantages by being formed of one piece comprising a pair of eyemembers connected by a bendable strip to facilitate bending theconnector at a midpoint to enable the eye members to assume an opposedrelationship with a bare conductor end therebetween, the connectorhaving integral bendable clamping means for clamping the eye memberstogether and one of the eye members having a flange to isolate theconductor end from a binding screw, and the clamping means being capableof acting as a lock washer when the connector is secured in place.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a plan view of a connector of myinvention, showing in broken lines the end portion of an electricalconductor bent to lie in the clamping end of the connector;

FIG. 2 is a side elevational view of the connector of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a plan view of the connector after the cover end has been bentover to overlie the clamping end;

FIG. 4 is a side elevational view of the bent connector of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a view like FIG. 3, but showing the clamping fingers bent inclamping relation to the cover end;

FIG. 6 is a side elevational view of a connector in its FIG. 5condition;

FIG. 7 is a midsectional view of the connector in its operative positionon a terminal block; and

FIG. 8 is a midsectional view like FIG. 7, but taken 90 from the FIG. 7view.

Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, the connector comprises two spaced eyemembers 11 and 13 joined by an integral bendable connecting strip 15.Eye member 11 has a cenice tral hole 17 defined by an upstandingcircular flange 19, the outer margin of said member being bent upwardlyto form a retaining flange 21 including a curved portion concentric withflange 19. The retaining flange 21 has upwardly extending bendableclamping fingers 23.

Eye member 13 may be considered as a cover member having a central hole27 of a size slightly larger than the external diameter of flange 19.The outer margin of eye member 13 is 'bent up to form a flange 29, partof which is concentric with hole 27.

FIG. 1 shows the bare'end portion 31 of an insulated stranded electricalconductor 33 bent into hook form and placed in the eye member 11 innesting relation in the curved trough provided by flanges 19 and 21, itbeing understood that conductor 33 is bent downwardly to extend belowthe cover member 13 as the parts are shown in FIG. 1.

Now, the cover member 13 is forced over to overlie the clamping member11, in the process bending the connecting strip 15 so that the connectoris now in the form shown in FIGS. 3 and 4. In this condition of theconnector, the hole 27 may surround the circular flange 19 or directlyoverlie the same, depending on the size of the conductor 33.

Next, the fingers 23 are bent downwardly as shown in FIG. 5 firmlyagainst the cover member 13 with sufiicient pressure to force the flange19 upwardly near or into the hole 27. This action may compress thestranded wire until it is rather eliptical in cross section (as shown inFIG. 7). The connector is now in the form shown in FIGS. 5 and 6.

Now, the connector is inverted as shown in FIG. 7 to locate the fingers23 lowermost, and the connector then secured in place by a terminalscrew 41 which passes through the hole 17 in the connector and threadsinto the terminal block 43 or other suitable member. As the screw 41 istightened, it will further compress the connector to force the flange 19into the opening 27 whereby the screw 41 is separated by a wall from thestranded conductor 33 so that electrolysis cannot occur in the event thescrew and conductor are of such dissimilar metals that electrolysiswould occur.

It is pointed out that with the fingers 23 lowermost, these fingers actas a lock washer for holding the connector in place the same as if aseparate lock washer had been utilized.

While the invention has been shown in connection with a strandedconductor, it is equally useful for mounting on the end of a solidconductor.

It is pointed out that the tip ends of the fingers 23 preferably arerounded somewhat so that they are not sharp and can themselves bereadily bent over by finger contact and without aid of tools, althoughif pliers are handy, they may be used in bending the fingers down. Thus,with a simple screwdriver and perhaps a pair of pliers, a connector ofmy invention may be used to mount on the ends of a conductor, and theconductor mounted in place without the use of any other tools.

It is pointed out that when the connector is turned over or inverted inits FIG. 7 position, the wire 33 extends in the same direction as thescrew is turned, as is common practice in the electrical industry.

It is further pointed out that the binding screw or terminal screw 41vfunctions to clamp the bent fingers or prongs 23 against the undersurface of the terminal block or plate so that the prongs havefirinengagement with such plate and can function in lock washer fashion.

An important advantage of the connector is that once the conductor isproperly contained within the connector, the conductor is totallyisolated from the binding screw. This prevents electrolysis occurringbetween the conductor and the binding screw. If desired, the connectorcould be made of aluminum coated with tin (or perhaps cadmium or silver)so as to prevent electrolysis between, say, a brass or copper bindingscrew and the wire, which may for instance be made of aluminum. Theconnecter can be made in many sizes. For instance, one connector couldbe made of a size to handle 8 to 10 gauge conductors, another 12 to 14gauge conductors, and another 16 to 18 gauge conductors. This merelyexemplary and not binding on the forms the connector can assume.

It may be desirable to make the recesses between the teeth or prongs orfingers 23 rounded at the bottom to avoid stress concentration orfractures which might otherwise develop in the eye member 11.

One manner of forming the connectors of my invention is to provide astrip in coil form and feed it from the coil Where identificationnumbers can be stamped into one side of the strip. At a subsequentstage, two holes will be punched through the strip and at the next stagethe severing guide will come down and sever out the form of the blank,including the formation of the prongs or fingers 23 which of course willstill be flat at that time. The thus formed blank will then be fedthrough a subsequent stage where dies will form the flanges 19, 2 9, and21 and bend up the fingers of prongs 23, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2.

While the connector is ideally suited for handling aluminum wire toprevent electrolysis between the aluminum wire and brass or copperscrew, the connector of course can be used with wire of any material,and the invention is obviously not limited to use with aluminum wire orstranded wire.

For marine use, the connector could be made of copper, bronze or brassand then could be plated with either cadmium, silver or tin whereby toact as an electrolysis barrier between a conductor and a binding orterminal screw.

The preferred embodiment of the invention has been described above, butit will be appreciated that the connector may assume other forms.

I claim:

1. A terminal connector for an electrical conductor consisting of asingle piece of metal which comprises a pair of eye members spaced fromone another and connected by a bendable connecting strip which can bebent to enable said eye members to be disposed in facing relationship toone another,

one eye member having an upstanding outer flange projecting fromperipheral edge portions of said one eye member,

said flange being of generally semicircular form and facing in thedirection of the other eye member and generally defining a cup having anopen side,

said other eye member being of smaller size than the interior of saidcup to enable said other eye member to fit in nestin relationship withinsaid cup when said strip is bent to dispose said eye members in facingrelationship to one another,

the open side of said cup accommodating said strip and said other eyemember in the facing relationship of said eye members,

said flange having upstanding bendable fingers which can be bentinwardly to overlie said other eye member and retain it in place in theoperative condition of said conductor,

said one eye member having an upstanding inner flange defining acircular rim,

the hole in said other eye member being larger than said rim to enablesaid rim to pass into said hole in a facing relationship of said eyemembers,

said other eye member having a semicircular upstanding flange projectingfrom peripheral edge portions of said other eye member and adapted tofit in embracing relationship to the end of a conductor clamped in saidconnector.

FOREIGN PATENTS 96,422 11/ 1923 Austria. 12,760- 6/ 1904 Great Britain.23,891 10/ 1910 Great Britain.

MARVIN A. CHAMPION, Primary Examiner J. H. McGLYNN, Assistant ExaminerUS. Cl. X.R

